Photek: Music Matters

Take a trip from the '90s to the future in this Fireside Chat on Red Bull Music Academy Radio with Photek – architect of drum'n' bass, spheric interzone-traveller and martial artist of sound.

Regarded by many as one of the finest electronic music producers of his generation, Rupert Parkes aka Photek enjoyed considerable success throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium with his own mutant breed of jungle and drum 'n' bass.

Much of his early work (under a variety of aliases) proved to be big club favourites, but it wasn't until 1997 when he released his now-classic debut album 'Modus Operandi' that he truly arrived.

Its style is the apex of his '90s sound science – atmospheric, but at the same time very cold and paranoid, consisting mostly of jazz-influenced, highly complex drum patterns and sequenced double bass lines, sometimes with minimalistic synth melodies on top.

Photek is also influenced by traditional Japanese music and culture, with song titles as "Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu (2 Swords Technique)" (named after the Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu technique) and "The Seven Samurai".

Three years later his follow-up album "Solaris" surprised many with its Chicago house and techno influences.

With a string of EPs lined up already this year and an extensive touring schedule that has taken him to Glade and Glastonbury, the new album is still in the making, and Photek is far from considering the album format as an anachronism: “There are plenty of people who can make a few tunes and put them online, but it takes more committed and creative people to make a good album. The conditions have changed that make it harder for people to make albums, but it doesn’t lessen how great a good album is. I think you have to do it, both as an artist and for yourself. If there are no great albums out there, then you should make one!”

Article Details

Related Content

Peaches is truly an exceptional artist. Her stark electronic beats coupled with highly sexual rock, provocative lyrics and flamboyant live shows have all served to create a fearless persona breaking...